The Canadian gaming industry is losing billions of dollars in sports betting revenue to the black market each year due to federal prohibitions — and a recent legalization push in the U.S. could further threaten the viability of casinos in this country, proponents say.

Casino boosters in Canada, including NDP MP Brian Masse, are hoping the recent legalization of single-event sports betting in U.S. border states like Michigan and New York will force the Liberal government to act now to save casino jobs — especially at places like Caesars Windsor and the Niagara Falls-based Fallsview, which depend on a steady stream of U.S. gamblers to stay afloat.

A years-long effort to legalize single-event sports betting — betting on a single football game, for example — stalled when the federal Liberal government voted against legislation to allow this sort of gambling in Canada.

Voting against the legislation in 2016, the government cited major sports leagues' claims that single-event betting might lead to match-fixing. But that opposition has been blunted since sports leagues, including the NBA and NHL, have partnered with U.S.-based casino operators like MGM Resorts to bolster sports betting stateside.

Masse, who introduced a private member's bill to dismantle the prohibition, said the Liberal government should take up the issue when the House of Commons returns next week. The government only needs to drop one sentence from the Criminal Code to end the prohibition — a change Masse said could be made through legislation or an order-in-council from cabinet.

"We are in a lose-lose position right now. We would have been ahead of the curve if we had actually defined our own destiny, but instead U.S. courts, as expected, moved ahead and left us behind. The consequences for Canada are very high," Masse told CBC News.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned decades-old federal limits on sports betting in states other than Nevada. The result has been a push by state lawmakers — notably in New Jersey, New York and Michigan — to legalize single-game bets at casinos, racetracks and online.

Single-event legalization has unleashed a revenue boom for state coffers already; New Jersey casinos collected $4.5 billion in revenue last year alone.